U.S. Senate panel authorizes $9.1 billion for 95 F-35 jets made by Lockheed

Reuters
Updated ·1 min read
Lockheed Martin's logo is seen during Japan Aerospace 2016 air show in Tokyo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee said on Thursday it had authorized $9.1 billion to procure 95 F-35 aircraft in its version of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, an annual bill setting policy for the Department of Defense.

The F-35 jet is made by Lockheed Martin Corp <LMT.N>.

The 95 F-35s authorized in the bill are 14 more than requested by President Donald Trump's administration.

The Senate committee also authorized the U.S. Air Force to keep six F-35s originally sold to Turkey.

The jets were never delivered to Turkish soil because of a disagreement over Ankara's purchase of the Russian-made S-400 missile defense system, which the Pentagon said was "incompatible" with the stealthy F-35 jets.

The United States kicked Turkey out of the F-35 program after its S-400 purchase.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Mike Stone; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Peter Cooney)